It has long since been a goal to harvest energy from the motion of vehicles. One such solution appears in FIG. 1. This solution utilizes a hinged stepping board 5 attached to a rod 6 with a rubber head 9 which impacts a wheel 3 which causes the wheel 3 to rotate a shaft 12 directly connected to an alternator (not shown). As something with sufficient mass to overcome spring 10 presses down on hinged stepping board 5, rod 6 is forced down towards wheel 3. When the rubber head 9 impacts the wheel 3, the wheel 3 begins to rotate. To maintain contact between rubber head 9 and the wheel 3 for a longer period of time, and to allow rod 6 to have a greater available travel distance, the rubber head 9 is hinged 8 to rod 6. As the wheel 3 rotates, the shaft 12 rotates the alternator (not shown) generating electricity. Finally, when the mass is removed from the hinged stepping board 5, the spring 10 forces the hinged stepping board 5 back up to await the next mass.
This design has several deficiencies. First, the design has a one-to-one gear ratio between the wheel 3 and the alternator. Furthermore, when the hinged stepping board 5 is depressed, the wheel 3 will not even complete a full rotation. This means the alternator cannot deliver a useful amount of electricity.
Today, automobiles can weigh upwards of 18,000 lbs and busy roadways can have several hundred thousand automobiles per day. This design is not structurally sufficient to support the repeated cycles from day-to-day automobile traffic.
Furthermore, many of the components will require custom fabrication raising the cost and increasing time to market and time to replace broken parts.
In view of these shortcomings, and others not discussed but that will be apparent from this disclosure, there is a need for an optimized and cost effective device for creating a useful amount of electricity from passing automobiles which is specifically designed to accommodate repeated cycles from automobiles up to 18,000 lbs using predominantly “off-the-shelf” components.